I really enjoyed seeing God at work in so many lives today. Already several people have told me they plan to lose weight with me in 2015. In case you missed it, today’s sermon in the “Living Life Without Regrets” series dealt with taking care of our body and mind. You’ll recall that according to research many Americans age 60 and older wish they had paid more attention to their physical health. Twenty minutes of the sermon was spent in a conversation with Dr. Terry Ezell and, man, did God use him to help a lot of us. (Check out some of the images below which we showed this morning). At the end of the sermon I mentioned my goal of losing another 20 pounds this year and invited those who felt God wanted them to lose weight this year to join me on this journey. Each Wednesday my blog post will update you on my progress – good or bad – and offer something to encourage or help you.

Between services I received an email from a man who lives in Easley, SC but is currently working in Indian Land. He was unable to go home this weekend, so he watched our TV broadcast this morning and was blessed by the sermon from last Sunday on staying connected with family, including extended family. Just another reminder that God is using our TV ministry.

During the 9:10 am service a couple joined the church. This was extra special for me because they were part of a group of couples in one of our Sunday School class that a few months ago met on Sunday evenings for a special study on marriage and then met with me as a group for lunch one Sunday to renew their wedding vows.

I joined a large group that met for lunch at the church to learn more about our new connect groups that will launch in the next two or three weeks. I appreciate the work Steve Polk is doing to get this started and look forward to all God is going to do.

After lunch I joined Jamie Burdette, our mission’s Pastor, for information meetings about mission trips scheduled for 2015. I’m leading the group going to Zambia in May and possibly leading the group to England in June. It was encouraging to see so many people show up because they want to be on mission for Jesus. One teenager was eager to go on her first international mission trip.

We also had another 150 “Draw the Circle” devotional books picked up today and the feedback from members about the 40 Day Prayer Challenge has been very positive. To date about 900 devotional books have been distributed. Praise God! Can you imagine what will happen if that many believers have life changing encounters with their Savior and Lord? God is able to do even more than we imagine.

Take a moment and share with me in the comment section below either your highlights from Sunday or something God is doing in your life while you work through the “Draw the Circle” devotional.

Pastor Steve Hogg